The Prime Minister wants to get the housing market going again by encouraging more new homes to be built. Something these companies doubtless approve of.

Berkeley goldplates its reputation as the sharpest operator in the UK housebuilding market, almost 10 points clear of its nearest rival and scooping the coveted title of Britain’s Most Admired Company to boot. Oh, and it also collects the gong for quality of management. The apparently recession-proof London-focused firm even announced plans to return some £1.7bn to shareholder earlier this year. York-based Persimmon comes in second, selling all 9,300 homes built this year for an average of £169,000. A 1.8% rise in margin helped Bellway to full-year profits of £67.2m, 51% up on 2010. Bovis, expects to shift up to 10% more properties this year while fifth place Barratt reports an upturn in buy-to-let sales.

BMAC 2011 by sector: Home construction

QMan

Rank

FS

Rank

QG&S

Rank

AAT

Rank

Barratt Developments

5.4

7

4.6

7

5.8

7

6.3

5

Bellway

7.4

3

7.6

3

6.5

4

6.6

3

Berkeley Group

9.0

1

9.1

1

8.3

1

8.2

1

Bovis Homes

6.8

4

7.5

4

6.9

2

6.4

4

Persimmon

8.1

2

8.1

2

6.6

3

6.8

2

Redrow

6.3

5

5.6

5

6.5

4

6.1

6

Taylor Wimpey

5.8

6

5.6

5

6.3

6

5.7

7

7.0

6.9

6.7

6.6

(Continued)

VLTI

Rank

CI

Rank

QMar

Rank

C&ER

Rank

UCA

Rank

TOTAL

Rank

Barratt Developments

7.4

4

7.0

2

7.8

2

6.6

2

5.6

6

56.5

5

Bellway

7.5

3

5.5

7

5.6

7

5.8

7

7.0

3

59.5

3

Berkeley Group

7.6

2

7.6

1

8.3

1

6.8

1

8.1

1

73.0

1

Bovis Homes

7.0

5

6.3

4

5.9

5

6.0

5

6.2

5

58.9

4

Persimmon

7.7

1

6.6

3

6.0

3

5.9

6

7.5

2

63.3

2

Redrow

6.4

6

6.0

5

5.9

5

6.1

3

6.3

4

55.1

6

Taylor Wimpey

6.1

7

5.8

6

6.0

3

6.1

3

5.0

7

52.2

7

7.1

6.4

6.5

6.2

6.5

418.3

Key

QManFSQG&SAATVLTICIQ MarC&ERUCA

Quality of ManagementFinancial SoundnessQuality of Goods & ServicesAbility to Attract, Develop and Retain Top TalentValue as a Long Term InvestmentCapacity to InnovateQuality of MarketingCommunity and Environmental ResponsibilityUse of Corporate Assets